1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to communicating vehicle diagnostic data from a vehicle to a vehicle service provider.
2. Background Art
A vehicle includes sensors for monitoring the operational status of components of the vehicle. For instance, a vehicle may include tire sensors for monitoring the tires; a battery sensor for monitoring the battery; an oil sensor for monitoring the engine oil; etc. Each sensor generates a sensor signal indicative of the condition or status of the monitored component. Many of the sensor signals are communicated to other elements of the vehicle such as a controller. In general, the sensor signals represent diagnostic data of the vehicle. The controller determines warning conditions based on the diagnostic data and generates warning signals for a user of the vehicle when warning conditions (i.e., low tire pressure, low battery level, low engine level, etc.) are reached.
The diagnostic data may be indicative of the need for routine maintenance in addition to being indicative of warning conditions. For instance, routine maintenance of a vehicle may call for the tires to be rotated and the windshield wipers to be replaced every ten thousand miles. As such, odometer data (i.e., the number of elapsed miles) is indicative of when this routine maintenance is required. Although many users are diligent in replacing engine oil and checking tire pressure, a problem is that many users are not aware of many of the other routine maintenance projects and/or their due dates. Further, most users do not keep an up-to-date checklist to ensure performance of routine maintenance. Vehicle service providers such as vehicle dealers try to solve this problem by sending reminders to users regarding routine maintenance due dates. A problem is that providers base the reminders on data which is not indicative of current vehicle operating conditions. For instance, providers base the reminders on model years of the vehicles and/or data taken by the providers when the vehicles were last brought to the providers. It would be beneficial if a provider had knowledge of current vehicle operating conditions such that the provider could determine whether any maintenance for the vehicle is required to notify the user of such requirements prior to the user taking the vehicle to the provider.
Further, the status of a given vehicle component which is operating less than optimally over a given period of time (e.g., low tire pressure) may affect the status of another component (e.g., the engine being less efficient as a result of the low tire pressure) such that routine maintenance of the other component (e.g., changing engine spark plugs) is required earlier. In this case, diagnostic data for the engine indicates that the engine is running inefficiently but does not reach a warning condition. As such, the user is unaware that the engine is running inefficiently until the engine breaks down and reaches a warning condition. The expenses for addressing the engine break down are likely to be higher than the expenses for addressing the inefficient engine operating condition. Accordingly, it is desired to correct the operating status of the engine prior to the engine breaking down. Such problems could be corrected by a provider who is aware that the engine is operating inefficiently. Unfortunately, unless the user brings the vehicle to the provider for some reason, the provider would be unaware that the engine is operating inefficiently and would not be able to fix the engine. As such, again, it would be beneficial if the provider had knowledge of the current vehicle operating conditions such that the provider could determine whether any maintenance for the vehicle is required and notify the user of such requirements prior to the user taking the vehicle to the provider.
Another problem is that the generated warning signals generally do not convey the severity of the warning conditions nor the actual problems to the user. For instance, a “check engine” warning signal does not convey the severity and/or the cause of the engine problem. In order to determine such information, the user has to physically take the vehicle to a provider. In turn, the provider physically connects a computer or the like to the vehicle to read information from the vehicle such as diagnostic trouble codes in order to determine the problem. Accordingly, in this case, the user may ignore the “check engine” warning signal and hope that this problem goes away if the vehicle appears to be otherwise running smoothly. The user may decide to take this chance as the user is not fully aware of the severity of the engine problem. As such, this may become a bigger problem to the user if the severity of the engine problem does not reveal itself to the user until the vehicle breaks down along a highway. At this point, the user will likely wish that the user had brought the vehicle to a provider in order for the provider to address the engine problem. As such, again, it would be beneficial if the provider had knowledge of the current vehicle operating conditions such that the provider could determine whether any maintenance for the vehicle is required and notify the user of such requirements prior to the maintenance becoming a bigger concern as a result of the user not initially taking the vehicle to the provider.
A hands-free phone system in a vehicle enables a user to talk on a cell phone while using both hands for driving the vehicle. Some hands-free phone systems include a Bluetooth communications module operable for wirelessly communicating with a Bluetooth enabled cell phone in the vehicle. During a call between a user using the cell phone and another party over a phone network, the communications module receives voice signals of the user via a microphone connected to the communications module. The communications module wirelessly communicates the voice signals of the user to the cell phone for transmission over the phone network for receipt by the other party. Likewise, during the call, the communications module wirelessly receives voice signals of the other party from the cell phone. The communications module outputs the voice signals of the other party through the vehicle speakers for the user to hear.
It would be desirable if a vehicle controller in possession of vehicle diagnostic data were to work in conjunction with a hands-free Bluetooth enabled phone system of the vehicle to convey the diagnostic data to a vehicle service provider such that the provider had knowledge of the current vehicle operating conditions to determine whether any maintenance for the vehicle is required and notify the user of such requirements prior to the user taking the vehicle to the provider.